The Sydney Thunder have uncorked their own version of Chris Lynn – just in the nick of time to save their floundering Big Bash title defence.
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Heavy hitter Carlos Brathwaite has been rushed into the squad to replace fellow West Indian Andre Russell, who will sit out the rest of the tournament after suffering a hamstring injury in Wednesday night's season-saving win over the Melbourne Stars.
Brathwaite will play against the Hurricanes in Hobart on Sunday night, hoping to pick up from where he made his name as an international superstar at last year's Twenty20 World Cup.
With 19 required off the last over in the final against England, Brathwaite clobbered four consecutive sixes to end the tournament in the most emphatic fashion possible.
He's since been superseded as the world's most dynamic T20 cricketer by Brisbane Heat superstar Chris Lynn, who has already helped himself to 26 sixes in five innings so far this season – his unbeaten 98 against Perth during the week one of the greatest BBL knocks ever seen.
Should Brathwaite bring the form he showed in the T20 World Cup the Thunder could still save their season, but it requires three wins from the last three games along with favourable results elsewhere.
"I just tuned in to see the win [against the Stars] in the airport the other night and then saw Lynny's Idon't know what to call it, 98, whatever superlatives you want to use for it," Brathwaite said.
"I can tell you what not to expect, four sixes in a row again. I've just come to have fun, do my best for the team. If all goes well get some wickets, some catches and some runs and hopefully some victories as well. This is a dream come true. Not only just to play in the Big Bash but I feel like being in Australia, my cricket can actually improve.
"I was in Sydney last year with the West Indies Test team, I didn't get to see much of the city so hopefully this time around I'll get to see a lot more."
Despite such a poor start to the season which netted four losses from their opening four games, the Thunder moved to within one win of the top four with their spectacular midweek win over the Stars, albeit with a vastly inferior run rate.
In all but one of the five previous BBL seasons, eight points was enough to earn semi-final qualification. Indeed the Thunder won just four games last season en route to the semi-finals, before claiming their maiden title.
Their draw is somewhat favourable, given they play the Hurricanes and the Strikers who are both outside of the top four, either side of what looks the toughest assignment left – next weekend's Sydney Smash against the third-placed Sixers.
They've already played Lynn's table-topping Heat, who could be without their superstar slugger for the rest of the tournament after he was named in Australia's 14-man one-day international squad on Saturday.
Former Australian power hitter Andrew Symonds said Lynn had earned his spot in the ODI squad.
"Just his striking power, he's so powerful, his bat speed, all that sort of thing, his core and his hips and everything, he's a breath of fresh air and people are drawn to the cricket to go and watch him play," Symonds said.
"I called that game in Perth the other day when he went mad and Imean the Perth crowd is pretty parochial and they were gobsmacked by the hitting ability of this kid, he's something else."
